June 20 is earliest solstice since 1896
(Credit: Wolfgang Staudt. Some rights reserved.)
Friday, June 20, 2008
The June solstice falls today at 11:59 p.m. Universal Time.
That’s time as measured at the prime meridian at Greenwich, England. And although it’s only one minute before midnight, it still places this year’s June solstice on today’s date, June 20. This is the first time since the year 1896 that the June solstice has occurred before June 21.
In the northern hemisphere, this is our summer solstice and longest day. If you live in the southern hemisphere, you know this is your winter solstice, with your lowest sun and shortest day.
2008 is a leap year. Without that extra day in February, today’s June solstice would have fallen tomorrow, on June 21. From this date forward, all leap years for the rest of the 21st century will feature June 20 solstices.
And that’s because the century year – 2000 – was also a leap year. 1900 wasn’t a leap year, and that single fact caused all leap years in the 20th century to have June 21st solstices. The next century year – 2100 – won’t be a leap year either. Four years later – at the leap year of 2104 – the June solstice will come on June 21st for the first leap year in over 100 years.
Many people have the impression that any calendar year exactly divisible by 4 is a 366-day leap year. Actually, this is only true for any year that is not a century year. Century years that are exactly divisible by 400 are leap years (1600, 2000, 2400). Otherwise, century years contain only 365 days (1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300).
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This is all Gregorian nonsense! Guide yourselves by the Sun and Moon and Stars and all will be well! This illustrates how modern methods of measuring time are only designed to confuse us, disempower us and bring us all further from the Source. Happy Solstice! May all your Midsummer Nite’s dreams come true.
@freqrider:
Feel free to guide yourself by the Sun and Moon and Stars, I’ll be the one laughing at you when you can’t make a 9:00 AM job interview.
@The Authors:
Thank you for the thorough explanation, it didn’t make much sense before.
fregrider,
Since the Northern solstice is the natural point of reference and the calendar is a human artifact, perhaps we could say instead that this is the latest June 20th since 1896. Either way, Happy Solstice!
Bruce
Thanks for this. I was confused why the solstice was the 20th this year (for the first time in my life).
According to wikipedia the solstice occurred at 11:59PM!
Maybe I’m not thinking clearly right now but I don’t understand why century leap years in particular are the only leap years that cause the solstice date to be earlier on the 20th of June. In any leap year, wouldn’t the extra day in February bump the solstice date earlier regardless of whether it was a century leap year?
Yes, David, what you say is correct: any leap year causes the June solstice to fall one calendar date earlier than it would have fallen otherwise. By the Gregorain calendar rules, any year that is equally divisable by 4 is a leap year (like 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, etc.) – except for century years that are not equally divisable by 400.
The century year 2000 is equally divisable by 4 and 400, so it is a leap year. Even though the century years 1900 and 2100 are equally divisable by 4, they’re not equally divisable 400, so they are common years of 365 days.
As amazing as it may seem, the supression of this single leap year in 1900 caused all the June solstices in the 20th century (1901-2000) to fall on June 21 or June 22. Every leap year in the 20th century had a June 21 solstice!
Unlike 1900, the year 2000 is a leap year. Therefore, this century leap year will cause all the June solstices in the 21st century (2001-2100) to fall on June 20 or June 21. Every leap year in the 21st century from 2008 onward will feature a June 20th solstice. The solstice will fall on June 21 in 2100, because this century year is not a leap year.
If my explanation is less than clear, feel free to ask for clarification!
Bruce
The 21st is my mom birthday. Thanks for the great explination why is wasn’t the first day of summer for the first time in my life.
One MSNBC science writer implied that it was global warming is the cause!